Talk of the Town beats Brick Oven Pizza

Short bench goes long

The game almost got away from them, but in the end the Talk of the Town pulled out a 7-6 win over the Brick Oven in town league hockey action Tuesday night.
Pure grit and determination backed by some outstanding goalkeeping made all the difference in the Talk’s win; it was a total team effort.
It didn’t look good for the Talk prior to the game as the two teams took the ice. On one end was the Brick Oven flush with a full bench. On the other end was the Talk with a grand total of eight skaters plus a goalie.
But not just any goalie. The Talk has southpaw net minder Brad Bodell and while he did give up six goals in the end, twice as many would have gone in on any other goalie.
He made his presence known in the opening four minutes of the game as the Brick Oven peppered the Talk net. Pete Cook was working hard for the Talk firing shots and feeding the slot, but Bodell turned away every attempt.
Talk player Kevin Bramwell broke the scoreless tie in the eighth minute of the first period. After Brick goalie Jay Harris denied his slapshot from the point, Bramwell followed seconds later to shove the puck through for a 1-0 Talk lead.
 The Brick responded less than a minute later when James Brennan, who over the years has developed from a PBR swilling town league loudmouth into a legitimate solid town league player, won the puck behind the Talk net and fed Matt Gutter in front to score.
Thirty seconds later the Talk tied it up when Sioux Emery pulled the puck off the boards and hit Howard Tuthill in the slot and Tuthill scored putting the Talk back on top 2-1 to close the first period.
It seemed like it would be just a matter of time before the lack of skaters would wear the Talk out but they just kept coming.
Bodell put together another brilliant effort early in the second period turning away a series of Brick shots that ended with a glove save while lying on his back.
The Brick broke through the Bodell barrier in the fourth minute of the second period when Kent Preston carried the puck through neutral ice to pick the far post with a wrist shot tying the game 2-2 but the Talk returned the favor two minutes later. Shane Palmer slipped the puck to Steve Reska breaking through the Brick defense and Reska finished for a 3-2 Talk lead.
The Brick came right back three minutes later thanks to the hard-nosed effort of Brennan on the boards. Brennan held the puck inside the blue line, skated up the boards through one player and then carried the puck to net to punch it through during a melee in the slot.
Once again the Talk answered, this time on the ensuing face off when Tuthill took the puck and scored to give the Talk a 4-3 lead.
Tuthill struck again in the final minute scoring a shorthanded goal, but the Brick saved some face on the following face off as Todd Carroll scrapped in the slot for a pass from David Bright and scored, closing one of the greatest periods of town league hockey.
At this point it seemed inevitable that fatigue would soon render the Talk team useless, having skated hard for two periods with just eight skaters. Instead, they opened the third period finding a mystery gear. With Bramwell anchoring the defense and Reska cut loose to skate freely through all three zones scoring two goals, the Talk built a three-goal lead before showing any signs of wearing down.
Then the wheels started falling off, almost completely.
Brennan fed Preston weak side to pull the Brick within two and then Tyler Hammer spun his way through the Talk defense to score, cutting the Talk lead down to one goal with just over a minute left in the game.
An untimely penalty left the Brick a man down for the final minute of the game and the Talk clamped down on defense to hold on for the 7-6 win.